The Dubai Tram ( ar, ترام دبي) is a tramway located in Al Sufouh,

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

. It runs for along Al Sufouh Road from Dubai Marina to the Palm Jumeirah and Al Sufouh. The tram connects with the DMCC and Sobha Realty stations of the Dubai Metro's Red Line, and two more stations are expected to connect with the tram in the future. The Dubai Tram is also connected with the

monorail A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and "rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, ...

of the Palm Jumeirah at the entrance of the Palm from Sufouh Road. Dubai Alstom Citadis 402

The first section, a long tram line which serves 11 stations, was ceremonially inaugurated on 11 November 2014, by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, with the line officially opening for public service at 6:30 am (UTC 04:30) on 12 November 2014. The Dubai Tram is the fourth tramway project in the world after the Bordeaux tramway in 2003, and the

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

and

Angers tramway The Angers tramway (french: Tramway d'Angers) is a single-line tramway in the French city of Angers in Pays de la Loire. Opened on 25 June 2011, Line A is operated by Keolis and replaced some bus lines, with the buses redeployed throughout th ...

s in 2011, to be powered by the Alstom APS ground-based electric supply system.

Construction

The planning and construction of the Dubai Tram was undertaken by a consortium of

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...

, Besix and

Parsons Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingto ...

. Construction has been divided into two phases: Phase 1, was expected to be open in April 2011, however it was delayed until November 2014. Upon completion, Phase 1 of the tramline will operate 11 trams, serving 11 stations, covering of route. The Phase 1 will cost AED 3.18 Billion. Some 9.5 kilometres of the Dubai Tram project will be built as part of the first Phase 1. Phase 2 will add 14 more trams and eight more stations along an additional of route. As of 10 October 2010, the construction work on Dubai Tramway had progressed according to the scheduled completion of 2014. However the project was put on hold a month later due to lack of finances. The construction of the tramway was resumed in January, 2011 with 30% of Phase 1 having been completed. In mid-2014, the tramline entered the testing phase, and it began operation in November 2014.

Operations

The Dubai Tram is operated by Keolis.MHI under contract to the Dubai Roads & Transport Authority. There are over 80 certified drivers for the tram. To ensure the safety of the tram and the passengers, every driver is required to take (and pass) an alcohol test before driving the tram. The trams also have a dead man's switch, which the drivers are required to press every three to five seconds, failing which the tram will come to a halt.

Hours of operation and frequency

The Dubai Tram operates from 06:30 until 01:00 except on Fridays when it operates from 09:00 until 01:00.

Fares

The tram has a fixed fare of AED 3 per trip regardless of the distance travelled, making it one of the cheapest fares for trams, compared to other cities. The fare for passengers using the Red Nol Ticket will be AED 4 (US$1.09) per ride. A

Nol Card The Nol Card is an electronic ticketing card that was released for all modes of public transport in Dubai services, in August 2009. The word Nol is an Arabic word نول for fare. The Nol Card system was developed by Hong Kong-based company Octo ...

can be used by passengers to check-in and check-out of the tram by scanning the card at the platform screen doors.

Rolling stock

The Dubai Tram use 11

Alstom Citadis The Alstom Citadis is a family of low-floor trams and light rail vehicles built by Alstom. , over 2,300 Citadis trams have been sold and 1,800 tramways are in revenue service throughout the world, with operations in all six inhabited continents ...

402 trams for Phase 1. The trams are long with a capacity of 408 passengers. Maximum speed is , giving an average operational speed of . The trams use the Alimentation par le Sol II (APS II)

ground-level power supply Ground-level power supply, also known as surface current collection or, in French, ''alimentation par le sol'' ("feeding via the ground"), is a concept and group of technologies whereby electric vehicles collect electric power at ground level fro ...

, and so do not need overhead cables. This method was first used in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

, France. The Dubai Tram is the world's first tram network to use platform screen doors at the stations, as well as a new Supervised Vehicle Operation (SVO) mode that will ensure accurate station stop and safety during passenger transfer. The trams have Gold (first) and silver classes, and space dedicated to women and children. The first tram was presented to Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Road & Transport Authority, at Alstom's La Rochelle factory on 14 June 2013.

Incidents and accidents

* *

Linking with Dubai Metro

The Dubai Tram has 2 stations that are interconnected to the 2 metro stations.

References

External links

Roads & Transport Authority homepage
* {{Dubai topics Serco

Transport in Dubai 2014 establishments in the United Arab Emirates